A Wedding and a Tent

“Two are better than one, because they can help each other in their work.” — from Ecclesiastes 4

In January 1953, Jim and Betty met in Quito. At last, after five years of waiting, Jim asked Betty to marry him, and she said yes! But Jim asked one more thing. He worked among the Quichua people of the eastern forest. He wanted Betty to learn their language, Quichua, before they married, so she could talk with them and share in the work.

So Betty set to work again, learning a brand-new language. She listened, wrote down what she heard, and practised over and over. By the autumn, she had learned enough.

Betty and Jim were married in Quito on 8 October 1953. It was Jim’s twenty-sixth birthday! It was a short, simple wedding in a government office, with just a few friends. There was no music and no flowers, but they did not mind. After a short trip to Panama, they went back to the forest.

Their first home was a tent! A Quichua leader named Atanasio, at a place called Puyupungu, had asked for a missionary to teach his people and start a school. So Jim and Betty lived in a tent while a simple building went up. It rained, the insects never stopped biting, and they cooked over a fire. But they seem to have enjoyed it.

In 1954 they moved to a mission station called Shandia, into a house Jim built. Jim preached and taught the boys in the school. Betty looked after the house, cared for sick people who came to the door, and worked on the Quichua language. Jim was the preacher, and Betty was the one with the notebook. On 27 February 1955, their baby daughter Valerie was born.

God made Jim and Betty different, and that is why they worked so well together. God gives each of us different gifts, so that we can help one another.

Dear God, thank you for my family and my friends. Thank you for the gifts you have given each of us. Help us to use them to help one another. Amen.